As for watches, without speaking of the magnetization observed after a violent electrical discharge, it has been remarked that the movement became slower. In some cases they stopped short, and marked the exact instant when the lightning stopped them.
When the ship Eagle was struck by lightning, none of the passengers were injured, but all their watches stopped at the moment the shock took place.
At other times there are peculiarities in the works which are absolutely inexplicable. The following observation, related by Biot, is a curious case in point.
A young man was slightly struck by lightning in the street of Grenelle-Saint-Germain. His watch was in no wise hurt outside, but, although it was only a quarter-past eleven, the hands pointed to a quarter to five.
Convinced that it was in need of repair, the young man placed it on his table, intending to take it to the watchmaker; but next day, thinking he would wind it up to make sure of the extent of the damage, he saw, to his amazement, the hands moved and kept regular time.
In some instances the case of the watch is seriously injured, while the works are none the worse.
A man wore a watch with a double cap attached to a gold chain. The chain was broken, some of the links soldered together. The cap had been perforated, and the gold spilt in his pocket. The watch itself had not been altered.
But if lightning sometimes stops the works of watches, it also produces the contrary effect.
Beyer relates that a flash of lightning, having entered a room and broken the corner of a glass, set a watch going which had been stopped for a long time.
I find the following note amongst my papers: "M. Coulvier-Gravier, director of the meteoric observatory of the palace of Luxembourg, told me yesterday that on Sunday, April 8, at 9.35 in the evening, a watch (wound up), which had stopped a week previously, went on at the moment lightning struck the lightning conductor on the Luxembourg above these rooms."